Safest, nicest cities to live in colorado?

[jazzlover]

Originally Posted by Da Fam

I have done lots of research on the county of denver, specifically in Aurora and Denver. I was leaning towards Aurora because of the 65% family demographic. However, I have gotten information from people who have lived or live there, and they don't speak highly of Aurora. I have also found while researching that Aurora has a lot of apartment communities and not as many single family dwellings.

If you like big, sprawling, big box- and car dealership-infested, automobile dependent suburbia like you might find in most southern California hell-hole metro areas--with some ghetto mixed in, complete with gang-bangers--well, then Aurora is your town. In my book, it is Colorado's prime example of everything to do wrong in planning (or lack thereof) of a long-term livable city. It's just another suburban blob that, like so many others across the United States, will degenerate into something really ugly as our current living arrangement becomes less and less sustainable. I wouldn't live there or own a scrap of real estate there for anything.

[SusanG_O]

My 44 yr old daughter lives in old colorado city in an apartment on 51st st. She likes it, can see Pikes Peak very clearly but has already had a new bicycle stolen she parked at the bottom of her steps. The weather is wild. It'll be 21 and snowing then in a few days 62 degrees. She pays
$425 a month plus utilities for a one bedrom, one bath, 877 sq ft old apartment she says is very charming. No dishwasher or disposal.

[tfox]

Judging by what the OP has said, I'd look at Fort Collins or Loveland. Both towns are definitely safe, even by the standards of towns of about 80k-100k, and I think most would consider them very "nice." They also have uniformly excellent schools and tend to be very friendly to families. Neither of them are as "hip" or "happening" as Boulder or Denver, but with CSU, Fort Collins has enough in town to keep most people interested, and Denver is only an hour away for the some of the more "city" diversions when you need them.

Most importantly, neither FC nor Loveland are considered suburbs of Denver or Boulder, so the vast majority of the population lives, works, and plays in town or at least nearby. If you're self employed, you'll likely want to do the same, and it's definitely better than points further south (say, in Weld County) where all your neighbors and friends will be commuting an hour each way to work every day.

The real problem with FC and Loveland both is that the technology and other white-collar jobs in town don't seem to pay nearly as much as points further south, though at least there are such jobs. However, I seem to recall the OP saying that he/she was self-employed or work-from-home, so that won't be much of a consideration.

[DOUBLE H]

I'm with tfox on this one. I worked at the Ft. St. Vrain Plant near Platteville not only during its construction faze but also on the maintenance crew at different times over the 70's and 80's. I got to know a lot of craftsmen over the years. The ones who carpooled from these two areas said they didn't mind the extra travel because they liked their cities, their neighborhoods, the school systems, all the way down the line.

Interesting comments regarding the white collar jobs. Blue collar jobs I kind of think are in the same boat. IMO the Budweiser plant probably pay the best in the area, but am not sure about other employment opportunities as its been several years since I've been through there.